Discovering the Bigger Picture in a Small Village

Five years ago I took my children on the most beautiful trip to Mexico and we will never be the same.

I had gone two years earlier with just my oldest daughter and decided to return with both. We traveled over February break for a week. For most of our week the weather was a bit on the chilly side, though certainly better than Vermont’s February climate. But that didn’t really matter. Close your eyes and imagine for a moment, clear blue Mexican skies, hearing laughter and squealing of children and what sounds like a wooden roller coaster barreling down its tracks. It was a joyful afternoon. However we were not at an amusement park. In fact, we were not far from a large garbage dump in a small colonia, or neighborhood in Reynosa, Mexico. My children were playing alongside the local children. What sounded like a roller coaster was actually about seven kids piled on top of the side of a discarded Little Tikes Playhouse, sliding down a packed trail on a dirt hill. It was filthy and probably dangerous and some of the most fun we’ve ever had!

This was not the Mexico you see on vacation brochures or travel commercial. There were no resorts or beaches nearby. In fact, there was sparse access to electricity, no running water or even grass.

And yet, it was one of the most breathtaking places on earth. Not because of the landscape, but because of the people.

We were there to love and serve the people of Reynosa. As a group of about 50 people our plans were to help three families build homes, run a children’s program and have a morning of pampering for the moms in the community. We thought we were there to bring them these gifts, but they gave us so much more. The relationships we built were the real gift.

In the course of a week, these are a few things we learned from those wonderful folks:

• Moms are moms and kids are kids, not matter where you live. The moms that we spent the week were much like moms here in Vermont. They love their children, are proud of their children. They work hard for their families and appreciate a little pampering. The kids just like to have fun. Our children played together all week. It didn’t matter that they didn’t speak the same language,  laughter is the same in every language.

• You don’t need a lot of stuff to have fun. While we unplugged and left our modern conveniences behind, the folks in Mexico had no modern conveniences and very little of anything. A soccer ball to kick around or even a piece of garbage to slide on brought hours of genuine laughter to kids of all ages. Yes, I slid down the hill several times, too!

• It doesn’t take much to show someone you love them. While we were there to build homes, the greatest work and reward came from talking to, listening to, and learning about each other (despite the language barrier). It was relating to moms from another culture and being reminded of how much we have in common and as mothers, women. And kids from both sides of the border playing together knowing their day to day lives were very different, and yet very much the same.

• We learned that we don’t need beaches and theme parks and resorts to have a beautiful vacation. Of course, we still like a nice camping trip or weekend at the ocean or in the city. But for the same price as a vacation, we could have a fulfilling experience as well. My daughters and I saw a “bigger picture” and want to travel again and again to see about new cultures and learn about and serve the people where they are at. In fact, my oldest daughter just returned from a medical mission trip to Haiti where their team saw over three thousand people in three clinics in less than a week.  She built friendships there and can’t wait to go back. My fifteen-year-old and I are in the planning stages of hopefully going to Jamaica next year to work in a school for the deaf.

While I believe it is important for my family to serve and help our neighbors and fellow Americans, and we do, I believe that jumping into other cultures and working alongside the people provides great perspective as well as a greater understanding of their needs as well as our own.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”  Proverbs 27:17